Annual variation of coffee tree vegetative growth as a function of fruit production

• Grant number: 17/00315-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: José Laércio Favarin
• Grantee: Laís Teles de Souza
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The reproductive phase of the coffee tree is associated with a new vegetative cycle. Thus, coffee needs to deal with two simultaneous demands of mineral substances: the need for fruiting plus the need for annual vegetative growth. However, a method to estimate the annual vegetative biomass increment is not yet known. What is the reason for this concern? This is due to the fact that the official recommendations of the major coffee producing states do not define the nutrient dose for currently achieved yields. As a result, many exaggerations are made in the fertilization of coffee. The knowledge of the functional relationship between the drains (vegetative biomass and grain biomass) will allow to determine the nutrient demand for the plant, in any situation, with significant advance to the science of plant nutrition. The present study admits by hypothesis that there is an indirect relation between the annual increase of the vegetative biomass (y) and the production of grains per plant (x). This ratio and the average concentration of nutrients present in the vegetative biomass (part of the stem and productive branches and leaves) will be obtained the total demand of the elements of the plant without use of tables, and risk of exaggeration in the amount applied, minimizing losses Financial and environmental. The objective of the present research is to clarify the functional relationship between the annual accumulation of vegetative biomass and the fruit load per Coffea arabica L. plant, in order to subsidize, in the future, the elaboration of a mechanical mathematical model extrapolable to the coffee regions. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SOUZA, Laís Teles de. Nutrient demand for vegetation and fruiting of Coffea arabica L.. 2018. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.